School Store Wars
by Writer25
Summary: When Edd and Jackie are put in charge of the school store, Eddy sees an opportunity to make some cash. But when Edd refuses to let Eddy take over, he and Ed decides to make their own rival store bringing out Jackie's, and eventually Edd's, competitive natures. Which store will succeed? Or will everyone just get detention? Sequel to Welcome to Peach Creek. I suck at summaries.
1. Chapter 1

A perpetual chill hung in the air, though you couldn't exactly say it was cold outside. It was clear though that winter was coming and coming soon. It was almost a relief to enter the warmth of the school building after such a brisk morning walk. As a matter of fact most of the kids seemed to have an air of bored contentment as the school days droned on.

I sat in math class and watched the clock constantly chewing on my thumbnail. In about ten minutes I was supposed to leave early so I could do my "Student School Betterment" Assignment or some such drabble. Apparently at this school the teachers liked the students to have a hand in making the school run smoothly. It was also an opportunity to earn some extra credit for the class of our choice. My weakness just happened to be the very math class I was sitting in. When it was finally time I received a nod from the teacher dismissing me. Unfortunately, I had to pass by Lee on my way out of my seat. Just as I passed her desk she stuck her foot out making me stumble and the whole class erupted in smothered giggles. I was just thankful that it was just her in my class and not all three of them. Her and her sisters still haven't forgiven me for the whole rocket skate incident last week and have taken jabs at me any chance they got.

I breathed a sigh of relief once I was out in the hallway and looked at the instructions the principal gave me for my assignment. Apparently I was going to assist another student in running the school store which sold school supplies to the students during study break, P.E., and lunch, located in the main hallway. Needless to say I hoped the student I was going to work with was Kevin. Smiling softly I put away my textbooks in exchange for the two lunches I packed just for the occasion. I started to feel my heart beat faster at the thought of just the two of us eating the lunch I made together.

Located pretty close to the lunchroom was a well built stand with a neatly painted sign reading "Peach Creek School Store". The back shelves were lined with notebooks, papers, binders, planners, and paper weights, while the smaller shelves held boxes of crayons and colored pencils, packs of wooden and mechanical pencils, pens, erasers, and small, school-approved nick knacks. A white pristine register sat in the middle with a familiar face avidly polishing it with a wide grin on his eager face.

My heart slowed down, but I felt wide grin spread across my face.

"Double D!" I said happily. "_Comment allez-vous aujourd'hui?"_

Double D started at the sound of my voice and gave me his signature gaped-tooth smile.

"Ah, Jackie," He said. "Um, let's see... _je vais bien, Jaclyn._"

"Good. Very good. Glad to see that your French is improving." I hopped behind the counter to join him and resisted the urge to hug him and invade his beloved personal space. "Last week you could barely say hello without stammering over yourself."

"Yes, well." Double D rolled his eyes and handed me a name tag. "Since Ed and Eddy refused to take French with me it was hard to find someone to practice conversational French with before you joined the class."

"And you're doing very well." I smiled at him fondly.

The one thing better than working with Kevin was working with Double D. Don't get me wrong, we weren't anything more than friends, but while Kevin always reduced me to little more than a simpering idiot I felt 1000 percent comfortable with Edd.

"So," I said helping him dust down the counter. "What are we supposed to do?"

"Well it's quite simple, Jackie," Edd said making sure all the note books were straight. "We assist our fellow students in finding the supplies they need, ring them up the register, and at the end of the day turn in all profits to the principal."

"Sounds easy enough," I mumble and glance up. "Oh, here, your tie is kinda crooked."

Without really thinking about it I stepped up to him and started to readjust it for him. He went rigid as I started to fix it and I realized my mistake.

"Ooh, sorry," I apologized and hastily backed away. "I forgot about your personal space thing. Sorry."

"Actually," Edd blushed and looked away. "A professional appearance is always held in higher priority than any personal discomforts. Besides...I don't mind if you adjust it."

"Oh," I blinked in surprise and returned to fixing his tie and decided to tease him a little. "So I guess that means we're officially friends now?"

"Well, yes of course." He sounded so serious and surprised that I had to choke back a laugh.

"Well it looks to Rolf that the too smart for his hat Ed-boy and new to neighborhood Jack have bloomed a romance like Nanna blooms onions in the aged cheddar."

Edd and I jumped apart and I felt my face heat up with embarrassment and he turned bright head as well. We both tried to stammer out a defense of what was really going on, but Rolf just rolled his eyes and continued to smirk at us. The bell rang signaling class change and I recovered first and smiled at him.

"What can we do for you Rolf?" I asked.

"Yes, time to get to business," He was suddenly serious. "Wilfred refuses to keep track of Rolf's many school assignments and Nanna will beat Rolf with raw spinach leafs if principal calls again."

"Umm," It takes always takes me a minute to understand what he's saying. "Well we have some planners that might help."

"Hmm, show Rolf some of these planners."

As I turned to the shelf to pick one out for him, I lean over and whispered to Double D. "Who's Wilfred?"

"His pig." He tried to hide his smile at my surprised face.

I'm showing Rolf how to organize his assignments into the planner when I hear a familiar giggle. I glanced up and saw Nazz talking to a stammering and blushing Double who can barely talk to her. Its so obvious that he was a crush on her that it makes me want to laugh. It's just so gosh darn adorable. It's a little less adorable though when Kevin comes up behind Nazz, makes some remark that makes her laugh and they walk away together without another word to Edd.

"Very good then," Rolf nodded when I finished showing him how to use the planner. "Rolf will make purchase."

"Oh, um, right." I gave my head a quick shade and check the price. "That'll be two dollars and fifty sense please."

"Humph," Rolf scoffed and pulls out a five. "Back in Rolf's country you can get three paper whatchamacallits for a chicken."

"Planner number 256," Edd mumbles behind me and writes it down in the inventory log and I ring it up. "Excellent choice, Rolf."

The register dings as it opens and what sounds like running in the distance seems to come out of nowhere. All three of us stop to listen as the footsteps got louder and closer. Just as Rolf begins to hand me the money a colored blur flew between us knocking me back into Double D who surprisingly was able to catch me before I fell. We both look up too see Eddy dancing excitedly around a very annoyed Rolf.

"Eddy!" Double D chastised sharply. "Stop it this instance! Good lord, restrain yourself man!"

"Troublesome beet curd," Rolf mumbled under his breath. "WHY MUST YOU TROUBLE ROLF LIKE UNHINDGED SHOVEL!" He yelled angrily.

He elbowed Eddy in the face sending him flying into Ed who had just turned the corner running happily after his buddy. He continued to run in place next to the school store with that happy smile plastered on his face just like Eddy was plastered onto his chest.

Rolf angrily handed me the money and I quickly gave him his change and his purchase. Edd rolled his eyes and left from behind the counter to try and revive Eddy.

"I hate to say this Eddy," he grunted trying to pull him off of Ed. "But I have yo say that you kind of deserved that blow. You did behave rather rudely."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Eddy mumbled half of his face still stuck to Ed's sticky chest. "What'd you do with that cash, Sockhead?"

"Ed," I interrupted noticing that their was in fact a brown, sticky substance here and there on Ed's person. "Why are you so... _sticky _today?"

"Aww it's just left over pudding skin from breakfast, Jackie." He said nonchalantly.

"Riiiight." I decided to leave it at that as Edd finally pulled Eddy free.

He automatically made a beeline towards the register and I stepped in front of it protectively.

"H-hold on!" I yelled. "You can't just take the money out. It's for the school store. You know, our School Betterment assignment?"

"She's correct, Eddy." Edd said frowning. "I'm keeping a careful inventory in which I am expected to turn in at the end of the week as well as our total earnings."

Eddy briefly scowled before getting a cunning look on his face. "Easy fix. We double the prices and make a profit off of that."

I have to admit I wasn't _completely _against the idea, but when I looked over I saw Double D shaking his head vehemently.

"Absolutely not Eddy! That would be dishonest, corrupt, deceptive, unscrupulous-"

"We would get in major trouble, Eddy."

The bell rang signaling that the next class was about to start and Double D quickly flipped down the closed sign and locked down the register.

"Now if you excuse us Eddy," Double D said annoyance still clear in his voice. "Jackie and I a class to attend to."

I quickly put my name tag away with his and quickly wave good bye to them even as Edd began to practically drag me down the hall. Double D probably thought that the class change meant the end of the conversation, but he didn't see Eddy's sly grin that clearly said that things were just about to begin.

**A/N- Please review. I would really like to know if you guys like this or even what you would like to see happen. Thanks for reading**


	2. Chapter 2

My arms felt like they were on fire. My feet dangled above the polished wood floor and the muscles in my neck strained with the effort to pull myself upward. And there was a consistent, high-pitched buzzing in my ear.

"But then Sarah said that Pink Berry Peach was prettier than Rosemary-Pink which is totally ridiculous," Nazz rambled on, "and that's like, saying Strawberry Rose is prettier than _Rouge Petite_."

"Are we… still talking about… nail… color?" I grunted painfully. Nazz hadn't even attempted to grab her pull up bar.

She giggled. "No silly, lip gloss color. You know, I think Vermilion Mango-Peach would look great on you."

"Yeah, but how would it taste?" I laughed weakly.

Nazz gave me a weird look and tilted her head in confusion. "Why would you eat lip gloss, Jackie?"

A shrill whistle cut through the air and I lost my grip on the pull-up bar, landing hard on my rear. Nazz stifled a giggle.

"Yo Jackie!" Kevin, acting as the gym assistant again, called over to me, "Coach says you're dismissed early for that store thing. You too Double Dweeb!"

I breathed a sigh of relief and hurried into the locker room to change and grab a quick shower. The water was a few degrees below room temperature but at least it felt good to wash the sweat off. Afterwards, I grabbed my stuff and waited for Double D near the back hallway were the locker rooms divided. I only had a few minute wait before he came out, adjusting his school tie.

"My apologizes Jackie, I hope I didn't keep you waiting," He greeted me with a smile, "shall we?"

"Uh, sure."

I secretly laughed at how formal he always was. Always. I swear I never met a politer kid in my entire life. But then again, I didn't have much experience meeting kids did I? As we walked Double D made some suggestions about how we could improve store efficiency and our customer satisfaction rating.

"Wow, I didn't even know we had a customer satisfaction rating," I said curiously.

"Well it may not be official but rest assured that our fellow classmates will rate our customer service qualities. Up here." He pointed to his temple.

"Again, if you say so." I chuckled.

Just as we walked into the main hallway though, we stopped in surprise. Across the hall from our little stand was another stand. Crudely fashioned and held together with rusty nails, it sat a bit crookedly and looked like it was made of left over wood from wood shop class. The shelves were crammed with a random array of notebooks, crayons, toys, and miscellaneous items. An askew sign written in messy letters read, "Eddy's Super Skool Store". And who else but Eddy himself, was posing proudly next to his stand like he had been waiting for us. Something told me that this was the reason they skipped gym class.

"What in heavens name…" Double D muttered in exasperation.

Eddy's smug grin increased as we drew closer. "Like it chumps? Me and Ed threw this together."

"I can tell." Double D said with a shake of his head. "I suppose it would be a waste of breath for me to inform you that this is against school regulations."

"Yep." Eddy answered simply.

Suddenly, Ed came running down the hall to us laughing and carrying and arm load of junk in his arms. He deposited them all on the back shelves unceremoniously, making them groan under the weight of more objects.

"Ready for business, Eddy." He declared proudly with a salute.

I crinkled my nose at the musty smell coming from the back shelves. "No offense, but that some of that stuff looks like garbage."

"Well you know what they say, one man's trash is my treasure," Eddy responded, "You sure you don't want to jump ship now Jackie-boy? Because me and Ed are about to make it big."

"Absolutely not Eddy," Double D answered for me. "Jackie and I have made a commitment to this _school sanctioned _store and the principal expects us to do a good job."

With that, Double D took my arm and led me to our school store. The bell rang signaling the end of the previous period giving us about two minutes to set up before students arrived. I put on my name tag while Double D checked the inventory log.

"You think we should have tried harder to reason with Eddy?" I asked, "Because I would hate for him to get in serious trouble over this."

Double D gave an exasperated sigh. "I wish it were that simple, but as you'll soon learn, reason doesn't quite work with Eddy."

Soon kids started filling the hallway, getting stuff out of their lockers and generally socializing. Double D and I stood at our stations, ready to help anyone who stopped by. But then the ear piercing shriek of feedback cut through the casual chatter. I looked over to see Eddy standing on top of his counter, holding a megaphone.

"Ladies and Germs, now announcing the grand opening of Eddy's Super School Store!" Eddy screamed into the megaphone. "We got notebooks! We got binders! We got pencils and markers and crayons galore! Vintage! And all at great prices. So why settle for your average, bland school store when you can go to Eddy's Super School Store!"

Ed blew on three party horns and threw a handful of confetti in the air. I couldn't help but cringe a little at their lack luster display. I felt a little sorry for them. It was cool and all that they thought about opening a rival school store but they didn't really think that anyone would-

"Cool! They have Eliza Francis notebooks! I haven't seen one of these in ages!" Nazz held up neon, rainbow colored notebook. Glitter constantly rained from the cover and it looked like it was missing a few pages.

"Eddy! Look at the state of that notebook, you can't sell that!" Double D chastised him and then gave Nazz a nervous smile. "Nazz, wouldn't you prefer a notebook in more suitable condition?"

"Can it Sockhead!" Eddy threw his megaphone at him, knocking him out.

"So, like, how much is it Eddy?" Nazz asked.

"Fifty- no, seventy-five cents." Eddy opened his make-shift register eagerly.

"Eddy, don't," I rolled my eyes in exasperation, "you can't sell that garbage."

"Sold!" Nazz happily handed over three quarters.

My jaw dropped and next Jimmy and Sarah came over to the stand. Sarah glared at Eddy's merchandise suspiciously but Jimmy let out a noise of excitement and pointed out a crudely stitched teddy bear backpack.

"Sarah look; they have Teddy-packs!" He said excitedly, "How retro!"

"We could match Jimmy!" Sarah returned his excited smile before glaring at Eddy again, "Give us two of those and don't jip us on the price!"

"Two bucks even." Eddy opened his register again to accept the cash.

"We have backpacked too!" I held up two simple, but better conditioned backpacks.

"Those things are ugly." Sarah stated simply as she and Jimmy walked away with Frankenstein-ish backpacks on their backs.

Eddy shot me a smug smile as more kids started gathering around his store. Double D started to stir with a groan and I knelt down to help him sit up. The mega phone was stuck in his face and left a nasty mark when I pulled it out.

"Thank you, ma'am and come again." He mumbled dazed.

"Um… we have a situation." I gestured over to Eddy's school store where everyone was buying junk. "I think we might have some serious competition."

"Yes well, while I applaud Eddy's sense of replicating a free market, I would hardly consider him true competition. In time I'm confident that our classmates will see that our merchandise is of the superior quality."

He gave me an easy, confident smile but I didn't feel the same way. All I could think about was the non-existent line in front of our store and the empty air in our register. Eventually the warning bell for next class rang and there was a scurry for everyone to get to class. The only people left in the hallway were me and Double D on one side, and Eddy and Ed on the other side. Eddy cackled manically and emptied out the register into a large jar. Only a few bills and some quarters came out but he looked at it like it was a fortune.

"Enjoy the _unpaid _vacation losers?" Eddy yelled, waving his jar at us. "Why don't you just retire and leave business to the real business men?"

"Eddy's got all the gravy!" Ed declared proudly.

"Oh please, you guys just have beginners luck and some flashy knick knacks," I scoffed, "Double D and I could outsell you two any day."

Double D rolled his eyes, "Jackie, there's no need to-"

"I have an idea, let's count our profits and see. Oh wait, you don't have any profits!" Eddy shouted.

My jaw clenched and I could feel my teeth grind, "Oh yeah? We'll see who have no profits by the end of the day! Here's a hint, it'll be you."

"Ha!" Eddy scoffed, "Look Jackie-boy, you still got a lot of learning to do but here's the thing, here in Peach Creek I am the king of the sale!"

To punctuate his point, Eddy elbowed Ed to cue him up.

"Eddy is the man with the know-how plan Jack!" Ed declared loudly, "He could sell eggs to a chicken. Cluck, cluck, cluck."

"That's enough all of you," Double D said sternly, "Now, we have classes to attend. Jackie and I have late passes this week, per our job running the school store, but those passes won't excuse absence."

But Eddy wasn't done snickering, "That's right. Run along to class. See if they can teach you how to really run a school store."

"Why you-" I was seconds from throttling him, but then an idea came to mind. A small smile curved my lips and I tried to suppress it so Eddy wouldn't see. "Double D is right Eddy; we should get to class. But we'll see you at lunch. We'll most definitely see you at lunch."

Eddy looked suspicious at my sudden change in mood but I quickly grabbed Double D's arm and walked away from him. Double D also noticed and gave me a look.

"Jaclyn," Double D said cautiously, "what are you planning?"

"Nothing." A smiled curved on my face regardless, "absolutely nothing."

* * *

**A/N- Wow! Two years since I've touched this story. Time really does fly when you're busy with... life. But seriously, I do feel bad for leaving this story unfinished for so long. I'll do my best though to at least see this through til the end. Big thanks and a special dedication to a mysterious Guest reviewer who encouraged me to keep going with this. I wish I knew who you were so I could properly thank you in person. Encouragement does a lot to help fanfiction writers, because it's often the only thing that keeps us going when life gets too busy for us to write. Anyways, I'll come back and make any grammar changes later. Enjoy and thanks for reading. **


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